Hansen's Notebook: Only 'time will tell' if Elijah Rushing is Tucson's best-ever prospect

Rushing's ranking: Legit, or a product of recency bias?  

Each time I read that Salpointe Catholic defensive lineman Elijah Rushing is “the No. 1 football recruit in Tucson history,'' I pause and remember how valuable context is.

Rushing is probably the top football recruit from Tucson since websites such as Rivals.com started placing 1-to-5 stars next to a prospect’s name, but that’s what, 20 years?

What about the previous 50 years, when Tucson prep football teams produced such NFL players as Mark Arneson, Mike Dawson, Michael and Mario Bates, Riki Ellison, Rodney Peete and Vance Johnson?

All would’ve been five-star prospects in most evaluations.

“My instinct is to say Bill Dawson is the top prospect ever from Tucson, but then that doesn't include those before him, like Joe Batiste or Pat Flood or Fred Enke, who I didn’t see play,’’ says Todd Mayfield, son of iconic Tucson High state championship coach Ollie Mayfield and himself coach of the 2005 Palo Verde state championship team.

“You couldn’t go wrong with Bill.’’

Dawson, a 6-5, 260-pound tackle, led Tucson High to back-to-back state championships in 1965 and 1966. In the days before coast-to-coast recruiting, Dawson was discovered by two of America’s leading programs, Michigan State and Nebraska.

MSU coach Duffy Daugherty, coming off 10-1 and 9-0-1 seasons, flew to Tucson to offer Dawson a scholarship. Nebraska’s Bob Devaney, coming off 10-1 and 9–2 seasons, also visited Dawson’s house and offered a scholarship.

How impressive was that? Both coaches had been ranked No. 1 in the previous two seasons.

Dawson, who was also a two-time state championship wrestler, was influenced by Michigan State’s elite wrestling program and signed with the Spartans with plans to play two sports.

After he signed with MSU — Arizona had just hired first-year coach Darrell Mudra to rebuild Arizona’s middle-tier football program — Dawson played in the Arizona All-Star football game in Flagstaff. His coach was Ted Sorich, former quarterback of NAU’s 1959 Division II national championship game team, and later a long-time coach at Flowing Wells High School.

Today, Sorich, retired in Oro Valley, has a strong recall of Dawson’s football ability.

“There’s no doubt in my mind Bill Dawson was one of the best football players in Tucson history,’’ Sorich remembers. “I’ve never seen a football player energize his teammates like Bill did during practices leading to game day. His leadership qualities were impressive.’’

Unfortunately, Dawson’s football career was compromised when he broke his foot as an MSU freshman and then tore his ACL as a sophomore. After suitable rehab, he returned to become a Spartan starter but he did not play in the NFL. He returned home and became his alma mater’s head football coach and teach in the TUSD for 32 years.

Says Sorich: “I hope that Rushing lives up to all the expectations of being the ‘best prospect’ ever to come out of Tucson. Time will tell.’’

Side note: The best high school football prospect I have ever seen was Phil Olsen, brother of NFL Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen of the Los Angeles Rams.

When I was on the junior varsity team at Logan High School, Olsen, a senior, was probably the nation’s No. 1 overall defensive prospect. He terrified me. Phil was 6-5, 260 and every bit as athletic and talented as his brother. He turned down an offer to play at Stanford to remain home and, as Merlin did, play for Utah State.

Olsen became a consensus All-American at Utah State and the No. 4 overall pick in the NFL draft. But, much like Bill Dawson, Phil suffered a serious knee injury in the summer’s College Football All-Star Game and, a year later, another torn ACL in an NFL preseason game with the Patriots. He went on to play six NFL seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.

That should serve as a cautionary reminder to Elijah Rushing. Enjoy every day of your football career while it lasts.

Harden’s perseverance leads to Pac-12 coaching gig

In the fall of 2008, former Tucson High basketball standout Jeremy Harden showed up unannounced for a mass tryout of coach Karl Pieroway’s Pima College basketball team.

Pieroway essentially was set with a 15-man roster but was impressed by Harden and gave him a roster spot, basically a day-to-day tryout. At the time, Harden was working as a blackjack dealer at Desert Diamond Casino and as a TV salesman at Circuit City.

By the spring of 2010, Harden led Pima College to the NJCAA national finals, finishing seventh overall, averaging 14 points and becoming an All-ACCAC guard.

His remarkable journey was just beginning.

Harden then enrolled at the UA and completed degree work. He coached at Immaculate Heart High School, was an assistant at Tohono O’odham College, Eastern Oregon College and Wenatchee Valley College in Washington. That led to his first major-college coaching jobs at Idaho and Boise State.

A week ago, Harden was hired by Washington State coach Kyle Smith to be one of the Cougars’ assistant coaches. He joins Tucsonans Gary Heintz (Arizona), Brandon Rosenthal (ASU) and Jay John (Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State) as the only Tucsonans ever to be full-time coaches in the Pac-12.

“It has been a fun journey and I’m hoping it continues,’’ Harden told me last week. “It’s a few steps up the ladder from Immaculate Heart High School.’’

Short stuff I: Remembering HS hoops legend George Walls, FBS teams rediscover ex-Salpointe blue chip Jonah Miller  

• Two weeks ago, I detailed former Cienega High School infielder Nick Gonzales’ hot start to his big league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. I wrote that of the 27 position players from Tucson to reach the majors, that Gonzales was one of 11 Tucsonans to hit a home run in his first 10 big league games. I wrote that Rincon High catcher Tom Pagnozzi hit a homer in his fourth big-league at-bat, the quickest of the 27 to do so.

I didn’t check the 25 Tucson pitchers in the big leagues. Big mistake. Rincon High’s Paul Moskau, a Cincinnati Reds pitcher, hit a home run in his first MLB game, his second at-bat, on June 21, 1977, in a Reds lineup that included Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench.

It wasn’t that much of a surprise. Moskau might’ve been Tucson’s top all-around baseball player of the 1970s, an All-State hitter/pitcher of impact who led Rincon to the 1971 state championship. After his seven-year MLB career, Moskau returned to Tucson and became general manager of the Tucson Toros ...

• Sad news: George Walls, the first man to score 50 points in a Tucson prep basketball game, died last week in Tucson. He was 72.

Walls scored 53 points for Salpointe in 1970 as he became Tucson’s basketball player of the year. He also had a 33-point, 33-rebound double-double that season. His scoring record lasted until CDO’s Anthony Lever-Pedrosa scored 57 points in 2001.

Walls, who spent the last 30 years working for TUSD, played collegiately at the University of Denver, averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds as a senior in 1975. ...

• Jonah Miller, an offensive tackle at Salpointe who became a four-star recruit in 2021, signed with Oregon over offers from USC, Texas, Arizona and Florida, among others. He soon left Oregon and re-set his football career at Santa Rosa Junior College near San Francisco after not playing for two full seasons.

Now back close to his pre-Oregon size of 6-7, 300 pounds, Miller has been rediscovered. In the last few weeks, he has been offered scholarships by Boise State, Houston and UTSA. Very promising.

Short stuff II: UA's Tiger Christensen at British Open, local teen golfer Carlos Astiazaran's star growing

• Arizona junior golfer Tiger Christensen will play in the British Open this week, one of just four amateurs to qualify for the major event at Royal Liverpool in England.

Christensen, who grew up in Germany and began his college career at Oklahoma State, is a key piece of Arizona coach Jim Anderson’s international recruiting success. The UA’s incoming recruiting class includes Carl Siemens, a freshman, who plays with Christensen on Germany’s national team along with UA sophomore Yannick Malik, one of six teams to qualify to play in this summer’s European Team Championship. Siemens won the French Amateur this spring.

The last Tucson-connected golfer to qualify for the British Open was Sahuaro High School grad Rich Barcelo in 2005. Barcelo is now a teaching pro at Tiger Woods’ Blackjack National near Houston. ...

• Salpointe 2022 state championship golfer Carlos Astiazaran quietly signed a letter-of-intent to play for the Pacific Tigers in January. Can you imagine how some Pac-12 recruiters are now shaking their heads in an “I blew it’’ motion?

Last week, Astiazaran won the IMG Academy Jr. World Championships at Torrey Pines in San Diego, possibly the top junior event in American boys golf. It has been won by Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Corey Pavin, Nick Price, David Toms and Jason Day. Former Arizona players Chase Sienkiewicz and Aidric Chan have finished second.

The UA’s 2002 NCAA player of the year, Lorena Ochoa, won the junior girls event in 1999. Astiazaran shot rounds of 69-68-71 in the boys 15-18 group. I'm guessing we haven't heard the last of him. ...

• The New York Yankees last week signed Arizona first baseman Kiko Romero of Canyon del Oro High School for a bonus of $197,000. That’s below the listed seventh-round draft slot bonus of $224,000, but it probably means the Yankees — seeking to save money from their draft pool limit of $9.7 million — were eager to sign Romero, who broke Arizona’s 49-year-old RBI record with 89 this season. Romero was the only first baseman the Yankees drafted in 20 rounds, which also sounds like good karma.

My two cents: Room to permanently honor 'Ooh Aah Man' in McKale?

It would be fitting if the UA athletic department created a space at McKale Center to honor Joe Cavaleri, the Ooh Aah Man, who died last week at age 71.

Perhaps the school could hang a red and white jersey with the words “Ooh Aah’’ on it. That would be appropriate given Cavaleri’s impact over 30 years as an impromptu cheerleader, a role unique to college basketball.

At some point across the last 20 or 30 years, the National Park Service at the Grand Canyon erected a sign that says ‘’OOH AAH POINT’’ as the beginning of the South Kaibab Trail.

I haven’t been able to determine the origin of that sign, but can it just be a coincidence or is it related to Cavaleri’s legacy?